If you’ve ever been to the horse races, you know how electric the atmosphere becomes, especially when the trumpets play just before each race begins. Based on the reaction of Jesús Martinez’s retired racehorse, that familiar sound is just as exciting for the horses as it is for the crowd.

Jesús wanted to capture his horse’s reaction to hearing the iconic music, so he queued it up on his phone. The moment the sound plays, the horse’s eyes go wide, and it looks like he’s either completely startled or instantly locked into race mode. Either way, his expression says everything, and it’s impossible not to laugh at how much that trumpet still means to him.

Though Jesús’s caption was in Spanish, we used Google Translate to switch it to English: “This is how my former racehorse reacts when he hears the trumpets at the racetrack.” We’re wondering what the horse was really thinking when he heard it!

Related: Horse’s Goofy Smile Is Cracking Everybody Up

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Commenters Had Mixed Reactions to the Horse’s Surprised Face

Viewers left close to a thousand comments about the horse’s reaction, but not everybody agreed about what the horse was feeling when he heard the trumpets. @Chloe said simply, “That’s trauma,” and @KiloLee1988 added, “‘Nam ended. Their screams didn’t,” while @NORBERT thought, “The horse is looking for his opponents.” @NH4NU agreed, “That’s today!?”

@Mariposa shared, “You just gave him PTSD!” But another commenter disagreed and replied, “Nah. Homie just wants to fly one last time.”

Another commenter said what they thought the horse was thinking, “He’s like I’m not ready!!!” @adorpheus agreed, “DISASSOCIATING…”

“I haven’t been training!” said @Mestre, and @Krispie.k agreed, “He said holy h*ll!” and @Selfiat said the horse was probably thinking, “GAME TIME!”

Although Jesús replied to many comments, he never said what he thought the horse was feeling about hearing the trumpets. It left many of us wondering if the horse was excited or stressed by the sound and feeling a bit bad for him.

This story was originally published by PawNation on Jan 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add PawNation as a Preferred Source by clicking here.